Tag: accessibility

Exciting news for inclusivity as there will now be accessible images on Twitter.

The social media giant has implemented the ability to insert alt text into images. Long a tool for silly internet jokes, alt text is actually an excellent way to provide a more engaging internet experience to the visually impaired. Alt text allows users to insert descriptions of the image which can be scanned by accessibility software to read the descriptions to visually impaired users. Descriptions can be up to 420 characters, and the feature is available on iOS and Android smartphones.

Announcing the feature, Twitter posted in its blog: “We’re excited to empower our customers and publishers to make images on Twitter accessible to the widest possible audience, so everyone can be included in the conversation and experience the biggest moments together.”

As we covered in our Blind Online:Considering Visually Impaired Users article, alt text is an excellent way of giving visually impaired users an extra level of online experience that others may take for granted. This update from a company as big and influential as Twitter shows that accessibility is a big topic. Accessible web design will only expand and become easier to implement as more companies adopt similar features.

After our Blind Online: Considering Visually Impaired Internet Users, we thought we’d look at the experience of hearing impaired internet users. Whilst visual accessibility is not a problem for the hearing impaired, there are some interesting insights into their experience which make for better, inclusive design.

Consideration of visually impaired internet users is an important factor in web design. Leaps in text-to-speech technology, apps and even legislation have expanded the internet horizon for the visually impaired in recent years. Navigation and access is easier than ever. This includes availability of information for sighted people to reach an understanding of how the blind “see” the internet.